Monetizing the Burden of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic Related Air Pollution in the Contiguous United States in 2010
Background: Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) refers to the wide range of air pollutants emitted by traffic that are dispersed into the ambient air. Emerging evidence shows that TRAP can increase asthma incidence in children. Living with asthma can carry a huge financial burden for individuals an...
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doaj-4f8b695f9059480494cafda00d8bfbd72021-08-06T15:22:57ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1661-78271660-46012021-07-01187864786410.3390/ijerph18157864Monetizing the Burden of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic Related Air Pollution in the Contiguous United States in 2010Minaal Farrukh0Haneen Khreis1Center for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy and Health (CARTEEH), Texas A & M Transportation Institute (TTI), College Station, TX 77843, USACenter for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy and Health (CARTEEH), Texas A & M Transportation Institute (TTI), College Station, TX 77843, USABackground: Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) refers to the wide range of air pollutants emitted by traffic that are dispersed into the ambient air. Emerging evidence shows that TRAP can increase asthma incidence in children. Living with asthma can carry a huge financial burden for individuals and families due to direct and indirect medical expenses, which can include costs of hospitalization, medical visits, medication, missed school days, and loss of wages from missed workdays for caregivers. Objective: The objective of this paper is to estimate the economic impact of childhood asthma incident cases attributable to nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>), a common traffic-related air pollutant in urban areas, in the United States at the state level. Methods: We calculate the direct and indirect costs of childhood asthma incident cases attributable to NO<sub>2</sub> using previously published burden of disease estimates and per person asthma cost estimates. By multiplying the per person indirect and direct costs for each state with the NO<sub>2</sub>-attributable asthma incident cases in each state, we were able to estimate the total cost of childhood asthma cases attributable to NO<sub>2</sub> in the United States. Results: The cost calculation estimates the total direct and indirect annual cost of childhood asthma cases attributable to NO<sub>2</sub> in the year 2010 to be $178,900,138.989 (95% CI: $101,019,728.20–$256,980,126.65). The state with the highest cost burden is California with $24,501,859.84 (95% CI: $10,020,182.62–$38,982,261.250), and the state with the lowest cost burden is Montana with $88,880.12 (95% CI: $33,491.06–$144,269.18). Conclusion: This study estimates the annual costs of childhood asthma incident cases attributable to NO<sub>2</sub> and demonstrates the importance of conducting economic impacts studies of TRAP. It is important for policy-making institutions to focus on this problem by advocating and supporting more studies on TRAP’s impact on the national economy and health, including these economic impact estimates in the decision-making process, and devising mitigation strategies to reduce TRAP and the population’s exposure.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/7864air pollutionasthmacost of illnesstraffic emissionspublic healtheconomics |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Minaal Farrukh Haneen Khreis |
spellingShingle |
Minaal Farrukh Haneen Khreis Monetizing the Burden of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic Related Air Pollution in the Contiguous United States in 2010 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health air pollution asthma cost of illness traffic emissions public health economics |
author_facet |
Minaal Farrukh Haneen Khreis |
author_sort |
Minaal Farrukh |
title |
Monetizing the Burden of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic Related Air Pollution in the Contiguous United States in 2010 |
title_short |
Monetizing the Burden of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic Related Air Pollution in the Contiguous United States in 2010 |
title_full |
Monetizing the Burden of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic Related Air Pollution in the Contiguous United States in 2010 |
title_fullStr |
Monetizing the Burden of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic Related Air Pollution in the Contiguous United States in 2010 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Monetizing the Burden of Childhood Asthma Due to Traffic Related Air Pollution in the Contiguous United States in 2010 |
title_sort |
monetizing the burden of childhood asthma due to traffic related air pollution in the contiguous united states in 2010 |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1661-7827 1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2021-07-01 |
description |
Background: Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) refers to the wide range of air pollutants emitted by traffic that are dispersed into the ambient air. Emerging evidence shows that TRAP can increase asthma incidence in children. Living with asthma can carry a huge financial burden for individuals and families due to direct and indirect medical expenses, which can include costs of hospitalization, medical visits, medication, missed school days, and loss of wages from missed workdays for caregivers. Objective: The objective of this paper is to estimate the economic impact of childhood asthma incident cases attributable to nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>), a common traffic-related air pollutant in urban areas, in the United States at the state level. Methods: We calculate the direct and indirect costs of childhood asthma incident cases attributable to NO<sub>2</sub> using previously published burden of disease estimates and per person asthma cost estimates. By multiplying the per person indirect and direct costs for each state with the NO<sub>2</sub>-attributable asthma incident cases in each state, we were able to estimate the total cost of childhood asthma cases attributable to NO<sub>2</sub> in the United States. Results: The cost calculation estimates the total direct and indirect annual cost of childhood asthma cases attributable to NO<sub>2</sub> in the year 2010 to be $178,900,138.989 (95% CI: $101,019,728.20–$256,980,126.65). The state with the highest cost burden is California with $24,501,859.84 (95% CI: $10,020,182.62–$38,982,261.250), and the state with the lowest cost burden is Montana with $88,880.12 (95% CI: $33,491.06–$144,269.18). Conclusion: This study estimates the annual costs of childhood asthma incident cases attributable to NO<sub>2</sub> and demonstrates the importance of conducting economic impacts studies of TRAP. It is important for policy-making institutions to focus on this problem by advocating and supporting more studies on TRAP’s impact on the national economy and health, including these economic impact estimates in the decision-making process, and devising mitigation strategies to reduce TRAP and the population’s exposure. |
topic |
air pollution asthma cost of illness traffic emissions public health economics |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/7864 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT minaalfarrukh monetizingtheburdenofchildhoodasthmaduetotrafficrelatedairpollutioninthecontiguousunitedstatesin2010 AT haneenkhreis monetizingtheburdenofchildhoodasthmaduetotrafficrelatedairpollutioninthecontiguousunitedstatesin2010 |
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